Stand UP (On Hold)
by ILoveMyEverything
Summary: When you're kept quiet and trained to be someone else's "possession" it's hard to find your own voice. But sometimes all it takes are outlawed ninjas,adventures and of course, nakamas (family). This is a story...a story about standing UP. Rated T for safety. Contains SasuSaku,NaruHina and others to be considered. Will be updated every two weeks or depending on the situation
1. Chapter 1

"So they're on the move?"

"Yes. Though they are moving faster than we thought they would."

"Good."

A pair of butterfly-light pink eyes glowed in the dark, belonging to a small looking child, a figure looming behind him as he clacked his fingers.

"This...ought to be fun."

Sakura Haruno often wondered how she ever had gotten to this state. After all, it wasn't every day that you wake every morn up in an academy where you are trained to be a female slave then sold to old horny guys who do who-knows-what- to you. Yep, Sakura was just like any other girl here in this mysterious academy with no name. And right now, it was Choosing Day.

"Ugh," Ino mumbled beside her,"I want to leave this place but not with those guys."

Sakura glanced at the ninety-something old man staring at poor Hinata, Sakura's friend who was practically a black haired Yamato Nadeshiko.

"Don't we all?" Sakura blew a bubble-gum pink bang out of her eyes and tugged at her white dress, her insides feeling twisted. All she could do from last night was prick and prod at the idea of staying her like a caged bird or staying with those horny old men as a slave. Both ideas repulsed her to the core. After all, when palming such a tricky business rumours were sure to slip out around the fingers.

Wouldn't it be nice...if ninjas existed?

To this day Sakura still pondered if it was this thought that had set of the whole chain reaction. After all, we all need help to say impossible us really I'm Possible. Because what happened next really did seem impossible.

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

Glass exploded everywhere as windows shattered and people poured in. People dressed suspicously like ninjas.

"But that can't be right, ninjas are outlawed," Sakura thought.

It was the explosion of flames that snapped that thought out of her mind.

"Sasuke teme you bastard you just scared everyone!" A blonde walked out from the fire followed by a raven-head. It was hard to see because they were outlined by the fire but...were those red eyes and whisker marks she saw?

"Dobe. Isn't that the point?" The (not glowing,not red,not a ninja) man and his blonde buddy passed by the ash-covered column where Sakura jumped to in order to hide from the flames. A sigh escaped her mouth as they ghosted by her.

"_What did they mean by 'That's the point'?_" The thought echoed through her mind. After all, that seemed like the only key point she had so far.

"S-s-Sakura-chan..." Hinata suddenly ran to her hiding spot behind a column.

"What?" questioned Sakura. The look on her friend's face frightened her.

"I-I think I s-s-sa-saw Neji-san."

Hinata watched her friend's jaw drop.

"I thought you said he died in a wild chase with a rogue ninja." Sakura's low whisper was barely audible in the chaos. A quick glance past the marble column into a scene with (multiple?!) blondes,a (lightning?!) welding raven-head,(jumping?!) shadows and more proved that it was still too dangerous to go outside.

"A-an-and," Hinata suddenly felt like rejuvenating her dinner,"I think...these are the ninjas from The Village."

"No way." The pinkette could only stare in disbelief into lavender-white eyes that had never lied to her apple-green ones.

The Village was the ninja-village most girls here had lived at before getting taken to who-knows-where. Of course, girls like Hinata who got captured at a later age remembered more then girls like Sakura and Ino who got taken away at the ripe age of five. Of course, that was before ninjas were banned. Once they were outlawed all ninja villages were burned. It was hardly possible that Konoha,The Village, had surivived as they had heard that the boss of the Capital's Magic Unit,Akatsuki, had taken them on personally.

"B-b-bu-Mmf!"

For a moment time stood still as she watched Hinata get taken into the shadows and a warm,cloth-covered,hand slip over her mouth.

"This is nice." Sakura woozily thought as a small part of her brain that wasn't malfunctioning screamed Danger! at her.

The raven-head allowed himself a smirk as he watched the rosette haired girl fall victim to the sleeping drug-laced cloth that covered his hand.

"S-s" She mumbled.

Curious, the boy leaned in closer.

"S-sh-SHANNARO!"

He groaned as a surprisingly strong fist connected with his face. Great, this was going to bruise.

**AUTHORS NOTE**

**Wow people, first ever fanfiction/romance/battle story I've ever written. Since I'm a stranger to every genre I'm currently writing except fantasy please don't hate me. Or at least, tell me WHY you hate me. Then I'm fine with it. As I said, I usually write original fiction and have never touched battle or romance. However, I read these types of books a lot and am beta reading one so I thought, "Hey, why not?" I'd like to get a beta reader myself for this so if you're interested, tell me. See that I'm doing anything wrong then tell me. If anybody's interested in my original fiction I'm ElsaForever and YaMiKak on Wattpad. Thanks for reading! And, let me just say not all chapters will be this short. ZI usually write an average of 1,863 a week.**


	2. Living Itself Will Be Our Training

Do I LOOK like Kishimonto to you? No. I also do not own the song Sense Of Wonder. That belongs to Idoling and Idoling alone.

Living Itself Will Be Our Training

Sakura squinted her eyes against the bright sunlight. Didn't she close the curtains last night? Oh well, maybe Ino opened them up. Sitting up Sakura looks around for Ino...and realizes she's no longer in her dorm room at the academy.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Sakura screamed. Well, wouldn't you scream? Especially as her memories came flooding back.

_Kidnapped,fire,explosion,blonde,Hinata. Okay Sakura, calm down. You don't want them to hear you and come bind you up,_At that thought Sakura shuddered and her mind instantly cleared up. At the academy one of the punishments for poor results was to be bound up and hung upside down at the edge of a cliff. Back there no one cared if you died or not.

To distract herself Sakura inspected her surroundings and concluded that she was in a small tent lying on some blankets and pillows that made a makeshift bed. The sunlight had come from an open flap near the top. A plan, that was what she needed right now. And thankfully Sakura Haruno was known for her brains, acing a test that should've been impossible back at the academy.

_First I locate Hinata. Then I see if anyone else was taken. Next I find an exit and get away from here!_

Sakura reassured herself with the fact that they couldn't have gotten too far away from the academy. Once she reached the academy she would figure out a route to a small town where she could live out the next few steps of her life peacefully with her friends.

Slowly, she unzipped part of the tent and peeked out. Clear. Unzipping it all the way she marked her next step, the SUPPLIES labeled tent directly in front of the one she was in.

_3,2,1,GO!_

She barely had sprinted more then a few feet when an arm pulled her back.

"Hey! Let me go!" Sakura flailed her arms and tried to land a hit on the figure behind her.

"Hn." The man annoyingly dodged all her punches,kicks and everything. Trying a new tatic Sakura instead thrusted her head back.

"Mmf!"

Sakura bit back a grin as her forehead connected with the man's chin. Using the momentary distraction Sakura ran...but this time she ran into another person.

"Hinata! What are you doing with this guy, he may be dangerous!"

Sakura cautiously eyed the blonde guy with whisker marks on his face. He was wearing a loud orange jumpsuit with black patches situated in different places. Compared to Hinata, who had changed out of her white academy dress and into a baggy hoody and pants, the blonde seemed even more loud and ludicrous.

Pulling Hinata aside, Sakura gave a wary glance at the raven head who was probably the one who captured her. It was her first time seeing him in the sunlight and Sakura couldn't deny that he was attractive. He was the kind of guy Ino would fall for with his spiky blue-black hair,cold onyx eyes and pale skin.

But, Sakura inwardly snickered, _his hair looks like a chicken's butt_.

"Hinata we need to get away from here!" Sakura pulled her attention back to the timid girl in front of her.

"B-b-bu, Sakura-chan, they're the good guys!" Hinata exclaimed.

Sakura blinked,_GOOD GUYS?!_she wanted to scream _THAT BLONDE "GOOD GUY" KIDNAPPED YOU AND I ALONG WITH HIS ANNOYING PRICK OF A FRIEND!_

Instead Sakura took in a deep breath and waited for Hinata to continue. Calm. that was what she needed to be.

"They're all from The Village, all of them! And they came to free us from the academy! Sakura, isn't that great!?"

It was impossible for that to be true, Sakura knew that much. Akatsuki were the Royal Magic Forces and their boss personally saw to the destruction of The Village, no way would The Village survive.

"Hinata..." Sakura began slowly. She didn't want to shatter Hinata's smile so quickly but it was just impossible.

"She's right, Forehead-girl."

"Ino-pig!" Sakura jumped at the sight of her blonde friend who had apparently also changed out of their crisp white academy dress and into some slightly revealing purple numbers.

"Oh,Forehead-girl? Find yourself a new outfit please. Now that we're no longer at the academy there's no excuse to dress like that." Ino eyed Sasuke and Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As long as a guy was hot Ino would flirt with him. And when she said flirt Sakura meant the kind of shameless flirting that never failed to make her cringe.

Sakura tugged at the stiff white fabric ending an inch below her knees,personally she liked the uniform. It was actually quite cute having a sweetheart neckline,saffron coloured sash and butterfly hem but Ino had always deemed it un-stately,"Well then, can someone please explain to me what's going!?"

"Sorry, I don't talk to the unfashionbly dressed." Ino sent Sakura a look. The kind of look that says go-change-so-I-can-talk-with-this-piece-of-eye-candy. Sakura made sure that the glare she sent Ino was one of her most terrifying.

_One Red Shirt, Pink Skirt And Leggings Later_

Sakura glanced in the mirror. She was wearing a red sleeveless shirt with a white zipper and outline of a circle on the back. Her pink skirt was really just a slip of fabric with a slit in the front,back and sides. She had also donned grey leggings and low heel calf boots. It was easier to move around in then the white dress she had discarded in a pile near the corner if the tent.

Stepping out of the tent Sakura spotted Ino doing exactly what she had suspected: shamelessly flirting with a familiar raven-head.

"Well, I'm ready for my explanation." She was _so _not liking being left in the dark.

_One Totally Messed Up Explanation Later_

"So...we're in the Cloud Village."

Hinata nodded.

"We were captured by Cloud ninjas from our Leaf Village."

Naruto (the blonde she finally put a name to) nodded.

"Which survived thanks to the previous generation putting their lives on the line."

More nodding.

"And now you guys are planning to upstage the Royal court."

Vigorous nodding.

"And Ino,Hinata and I are to be trained to become ninjas."

"You can decline if you want." Naruto added while looking like a bobble-head with his constant nodding.

"Okay then...this makes no sense but I guess I'll take it." Sakura decided that staying with a group of outlawed ninjas was the safest option at the moment.

"Okay then! First we have to find granny Tsunade!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura felt her face make a "huh?" look. Was this person important or something?

"We need a leader and Tsunade was chosen." Sasuke (A.K.A. the raven-head bastard Ino was mind stripping earlier) added, his bass toned voice making shudders run along her back. Hey, the guy was hot if not oh-so-annoying, who could blame her?

"She might be able to train you, Forehead-girl. Apparently a cousin of mine us going to train me and Hinata's cousin is training her." Ino gave an envious glare at Hinata. Sakura sighed, she could already imagine how much one-sided flirting would've been done if Ino was paired with Neji. By the expression on Ino's face Sakura could tell that Neji was a looker.

"But until then Sasuke-teme will be training you!" Naruto added brightly. _Too _brightly especially considering how Sakura was feeling at that moment.

She could feel her spine going rigid as she turned to look at the smirking raven-head before her.

This was going to be a long session.

_A Dozen Pink-haired Protests Later_

Sakura blew a lone,bubble-gum pink strand of hair out if her apple-green eyes and stared at the spiky raven-head that was currently slicing a tomato. A _tomato._

"Well," Sakura tapped a foot," Are you going to teach me or what?" Impatience burbled up in the pinkette, this man was the most annoying person she had yet to meet.

"Ah." Standing up, Sasuke placed his neatly sliced tomato pieces on a nearby plate as he stood up.

Sasuke walked over to a poster board and pointed at a diagram,"This is you. Inside you are chakra veins. First you must mix your spiritual energy with your physical energy. Then you perform hand seals to turn the chakra inti jutsus."

Sakura struggled to catch up.

_Okay so,chakra,spiritual energy,physical energy...got it. Sorta_.

"The amount of chakra needed is defined by the justu. The more powerful the jutsu the more chakra needed."

"Well, where does the chakra come from?" Sakura blurted. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. It was a habit. Back at the academy one of the biggest rules was "speak only when spoken to". She and Ino had gotten a lot if punishments for idly breaking this rule. Sakura reminded her brain that they were no longer at the academy and so she no longer needed to mind her words. Her hands reluctantly budged.

Sasuke just glared.

_Self-righteous prick_, Sakura thought.

"From a chakra reserve inside of you. Each person has a different amount of chakra."

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sasuke was acting as though she didn't hear him when in reality he didn't even mention that little tidbit.

"Well, now climb that tree."

Sakura blinked,"What?"

"You've now learned about chakra. Now try drawing chakra to your feet and climb that tree." Sasuke walked over to a tall,imposing-looking tree and began walking up it vertically.

"Umm, okay?" Sakura gulped as a thousand scenirous ran through her head. Walking up to the top then losing her grip and falling on her head,not being able to do it at all,run-

"Are you going to get moving or what?" Sasuke demanded.

_Right, if nothing I can at least be able to say I gave it my all._ Sakura thought. She felt slightly reassured, especially by the thought of what would happen if she did accomplish the feat.

Imagining the chakra running through her veins Sakura pictured chakra rushing to her feet. Feeling as though she had it, Sakura took a step up the tree. Then another and another, until she was sitting on a branch at the top.

"I did it!" She crowed.

"Well get down here then." Sasuke grumbled. Was it just her imagination or was he looking just a tad grumpy?

Getting down was harder then going up but Sakura managed. She couldn't help but keep the ear-to-ear beam on her face for another half hour. She had actually done it! Her, Sakura Haruno, the girl who had never had any ninja training if any kind, had climbed a tree! Sakura thought she heard Sasuke say their session was over but she couldn't be sure- she was too busy running the thought "I did it!" in her head?

She absent-mindly joined Ino as the two girls walked back to their cluster of tents for a hot bath and dinner.

"What's with that grin, Forehead-girl?" Ino bumped shoulders with Sakura as they headed to the their shared tent.

"I climbed a tree,Ino-pig!" Sakura bumped Ino's shoulder back.

"Wow, and here I was thinking you'd been doing some real hard ninja training when you've only been learning how to climb a tree. I bet that'll be real handy." Ino drawled dryly.

"Oh shut up, Ino-pig!," Sakura wasn't about to let her thunder get stolen so quickly,"I walked up it vertically."

To demonstrate Sakura went over to a nearby tree and climbed up it.

Someone gave a low whistle.

"Man, you learned that already?! Sasuke teme must be a better teacher then he looks- it took me three days to learn that!" Naruto emerged from a tent. Sakura couldn't help but notice that he was wearing the same loud tracksuit from before.

Naruto checked his watch,"It's almost dinner time so you two should get ready."

Sakura thought she heard him say something about hoping that someone named Ayame would be making ramen. Ramen?

_One Hot Bath Later_

Sakura glanced at the scene unfolding around her. Naruto was stuffing ramen into his mouth like the world was ending,Sasuke was eating yet another tomato and Ino was flirting or,um _chatting _with a boy even paler then Sasuke. Sakura decided to ignore it all and dig into her own meal of rice,potatoes and cabbages.

Hmm, she could get used to Ayame and Teauchi's cooking.

_An Extremely Loud Meal Later_

"So, Saku-face," Sakura cringed at Ino's new nickname for her,"This place isn't that bad, is it?"

Sakura let that thought jump around in her head for a while. A kind of calm was blooming like a flower in her and it definitely was nice getting away from the strict rules of the academy but...outlawed ninjas weren't really her thing.

"I don't know, Pig," Sakura replied honestly,"I still feel like we'll be exposed and die but it's hard to hate everyone when they've all been so dang friendly."

"Ino?"

Sakura resisted the urge to laugh as she realized that Ino had already fallen asleep. Good night, Ino-pig." Sakura turned over in her sleeping bag and lulled herself to sleep.

"_Living itself will be our training._"

_Somewhere Quite Far Away_

"What's their first step?"

"To find the princess Tsunade."

"I suppose they need a leader for their little tribe."

"Yes, and while they're searching we can get the preparations ready."

"Good, see to it that everything is ready just in time."

"Certainly."

"Let's see, how will you fare now, against my strongest army, Konoha?"

_"Let's go for even more who-knows-what!"_

Authors Note!

Hiya'll! Finally, chapter two! Now let's just get something clear, I have two original fictions going on on Wattpad and those are my top priority, m'kay? So expect updates every two weeks. Of course, I am completely open to any opinion you have about this fan fiction. Though I probably won't take plot suggestions, I got a solid idea for this story. I've written a one shot and if you're interested it'd be pretty amazing if you'd check it out. Now, a whole paragraph on the name of this story.

I feel like the whole concept of Naruto is standing up. Naruto, standing up to get acknowledged and what not. That's something I'd like to put forward in my story. Of course, I'm fairly moody so this may change!

Check me out on Wattpad (ElsaForever or YaMiKak)! Until next chapter, baiiiiii! Also, this is 400 hundred words less then what I usually write, I have no idea what's gotten into me!


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